I curse 56k daily. You guys may be tired of my whining about file sizes, but its nothing compared to the reality of sitting here waiting for them to arrive.

Don't forget to download and rate another map.

No insult intended but, this looks amazingly like a box thats been filled in with stuff. I know that thats not really the case but it does none the less. My advice, take a look at the top down image of this map. It is essentially a box filled with stuff too but, it has non-accessible vistas to make it appear larger than it is. You need something besides a sky to give this map the advantage of roominess. Break the box and give the players something to look at.

Truly, the playable area is very square, but I had hoped the cliffs on the side and the inaccessible area with the yellow and white buildings and watertower would prevent the level from feeling too much like a box. I'll go back and reevaluate how to fix this problem. I'll try to put the yellow and white buildings on seperate planes from the stone and red buildings. Putting the whole level on a slant might help.

The two things that strike me first in this shot are both realism items. 1st, the grating is much to thick. Real world grating like that would weigh a few metric tonnes. Make it a bit thinner. 2nd, canals have steeply sloping sides. This helps prevent debris from accumulating on the edges due to slowing water. If you are going to have vertical sides, add more piles of debris. Especially in the corners. Eddies draw debris by the currents of the water flowing slower in them. That pile of whatever in the center, probably wouldn't be there.

I agree about the grating. I'll thin it out and throw some support beams a la Crono's post. I'll add a slant to the walls and play around with the displacements to try to make it look more realistic.

Here again reality is kicking you in the butt. The pathway leads right up to the wall. Why? Also, since I have not been inside the map I cannot tell for sure but it appears as if the tree in the center is growing over top of a tunnel or a hollow place under the map. If you are intending to retain the path, place some sort of a fence, or a hedgerow to make it distinct and PLANNED. A fence/barrier on the upper level above the path couldn't hurt either. I am also not liking the blue tint to the map. Night time tends to be such but, your light sources are white, yet they have no indication on the ground beneath them. The light sprite is glowing massively, yet its dark under the doorway. Its almost as if the glow is preventing the light from reaching the ground.

I'm not sure how to change the path to make it more realistic. Should I add some space between the retainer wall and the pathway?

I'll move that tree to the right, it doesn't make sense where it is right now, although the tunnel does end with another pipie.

The retainer wall that separates the upper from the lower area seems a bit thick. Also, would it really be flush with the grass in a real world area? Also, the building needs some air vents. Factories generate heat. You need some air exchange.

I'll play with the thickness on that retainer wall. As for being flush with the grass, do you mean that it should transition to dirt before it hits the wall? That's what I originally intended but the alpha displacement bug inverted the blend texture.

I will try to add air vents as well as other props to the building to bring it to life... although I wish that I had the CS:S source assets... the stuff from the cs_assault would be perfect.

The dock doors would also have some illumination in a real world setting. The grass is to neat, but I imagine you have plans for that already. Usually, factories have a corporate logo or name someplace. You have one in mind? The windows on the overlook connection between the buildings need to be closer together. Buildings almost always have gutters too. Dock doors almost always have some sort of a conventional entryway beside them. it allows egress without opening that big door.

There's a corporate logo right above the garage door, but it's not very clear. I'll add some lighting to highlight the company logo.

I'm kind of at a loss for how to make the gress less "neat." Do you mean I should add more noise to the displacements?

I agree, those windows are too wide, I will tighten them up.

Like you suggested, I'll try moving the door over from the side to the front.

From this angle, it looks to much like a mirror image between the walls. remove the right hand door and put it beside the dock door as I mentioned earlier. OK, now the critical part. The red and yellow fit fantastically but, the rocks in the center region clash sharply. At least IMO they do. If you can, try to keep the arch things intact but replace the rocks with the red or yellow. See how it looks that way. I'd go for the red personally but its your call.

I've tentatively retextured the stone building, let me know what you think.

From this angle, it truly becomes apparent that the rocks are different from the theme you are attempting. Another point, do you expect the people to use the street to travel about the compound? If so, perhaps a painted section for the route is in order. Another thing that truly sticks out in this shot is, the buildings are essentially all on the same plain. You need some variation between them. Look at this shot, the red one, the rock one the yellow one and the white one all are level. This is not a bad thing but it would add a tiny bit of perspective and depth to have them at least not so level. Its true that you have basements but from here, they are not so readily apparent.

Painted section? Do you mean adding a sidewalk of some sort?

Diversifying the planes will be a hassle but ultimately I will have to do it because you're right it looks way too amateurish at the moment.

Two things stick out. 1st, that path. Its not fitting the theme. 2nd, the buildings. People leave lights on sometimes, even when the shop is closed for the day. Turn on something inside. A computer monitor, or a bathroom light perhaps.

I'll try to give the illusion of inside illumination. If I do decide to hollow out the buildings then this problem will be solved.

The stairway looks to much like a pit with stairs. Put some grating/fencing around it. Can't see much else from this angle.

I'll put a small fence around the pit, just to stop people from falling in. It was a bitch to get the displacements to fit around the stairwell and still sew together, so I don't want to touch the actual dimensions of the stairwell.

One has to ask, Why such a big drainage pipe? It might be beneficial to have a reason other than a route for the fraggers to travel.

I can't come up with a good reason for the huge drainage pipe. I'm open to any suggestions, although ultimately I think the player is just gonna have to suspend their disbelief. Hopefully the headcrabs will distract them.

This shot shows a real good illustration of that path. It looks like you took a wall texture and placed it sideways upon the ground. There have got to be true path textures. Look for a more appropriate one. The bricks clash with the rocks too. Might be unavoidable but try anyway.

As per yours and ReNo's comments the path texture is now due to be replaced. Do you think a dirt path would suffice or do I need to put some real concrete pathways in?

I don't think much can be done about the clashing brick and stone textuers. I'll splatter some blood on the stones and see if that helps.

Hope some of this helps.

Of course it did, thank you for taking the time.